OFFER    FOR    SALE 


OVER  2,400,000  ACRES 

SELECTED 


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I)  PRAIRIE,  FARM  AND  WOOD  LANDS,  (| 

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cjs  J  IN  TEAcrrs  or  ant  size,  to  suit  puechaseeb,  LIsa 


LONG  CREDITS,  AND  AT  LOW  KATES  OF  INTEREST. 


ON  EACH  SIDE  OF  THEIE  EAIL-EOAD,  EXTENDING  ALL  THE  WAT  EEOM  THE 
EXTEEME  NOETH  TO  THE  SOUTH  OF  THE 


STATE     OF     ILLINOIS. 


Ncro-Sork 


JOHN   W.   AMERMAN,   PRINTER, 

No.  60    WrLLIAlI-STEEET. 


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THE 

OFFER    FOR   SALE 

OVER  2,400,000  ACRES 

SELECTED 

PRAIRIE,  EARM  AND  WOOD  LANDS, 

IN  TRACTS  OF  ANT  SIZE,  TO  SUIT  PUECHASEES, 
ON 

LONG  CREDITS,  AND  AT  LOW  RATES  OF  INTEREST, 


ON  EACH  SIDE  OF  THEIR  EAIL-EOAD,  EXTENDING  ALL  THE  WAT  FEOM  THE 
EXTREME  NOETH  TO  THE  SOUTH  OF  THE 


STATE     OF     ILLINOIS 


JOHN     W.    A  MERMAN,    PRINTER, 

No.    60    "WiLUAM-STREET. 

1855. 


Note. — It  has  been  found  impossible  to  answer  the  large  number  of  letters  that 
are  daily  received  in  reference  to  these  Lands.  To  such  this  Pamphlet  will  be  sent 
in  reply  to  the  questions  asked. 


TPIE    LANDS 


ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  COMPANY. 


THE  COMPANY'S  TITLE  TO  THE  LANDS. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  the  20th  day 
of  September,  1850,  passed  an  act,  granting  to  the 
State  of  Illinois  two  millions  five  hundred  and  ninety  five 
thousand  acres  of  the  Public  Lands,  to  aid  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  long  line  of  Rail-Road  throughout  the 
State. 

On  the  10th  of  February,  1851,  the  Legislature  of 
the  State  of  Illinois  passed  an  act  to  incorporate  "  The 
Illinois  Central  Rail-Road  Company,"  granting  to  them 
the  large  body  of  lands  which  had  been  given  by  the 
General  Government  to  encourage  this  enterprise, 
which  was  so  important  to  open  the  rich  prairies  for 
settlement. 


THE  RAIL-ROAD  ROUTE. 

The  Road  commences   at  Dunleith,    a  town  on  the 
Mississippi,  in  the  extreme  north  of  the  State,  oppo- 


site  the  city  of  Dubuque,  in  Iowa.  It  passes  south  16 
miles  through  Galena,  the  great  lead  region  of  the 
West.  It  then  runs  easterly  50  miles ;  after  which  it 
takes  a  southerly  course,  in  almost  a  straight  line,  \o 
Cairo,  the  extreme  southern  point  of  the  State.  Cairo 
is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi, 
and  is  the  point  at  which  produce  and  merchandise 
are  exchanged  with  the  numerous  steamboats  floating 
on  these  great  rivers.  A  branch  of  the  Road  leaves 
the  main  line  118  miles  above  Cairo,  diverging  to  the 
northeast,  and  terminating  at  Chicago,  on  Lake  Michi- 
gan, the  greatest  grain-sliipping  port  in  the  world. 

A  daily  freight  and  passenger  train  is  now  running 
between  Cairo  and  Galena,  and  also  between  Chicago 
and  Galena,  and  Chicago  and  Cairo.  The  trains  will 
run  through  to  Dunleith  on  the  1st  of  May.  The  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  Rail-Road  connects  with  the  Illinois 
Central  at  Sandoval,  running  to  St.  Louis. 
•  By  completing  nearly  600  miles  of  Rail-Road,  the 
company  have  formed  connections  with  various  Rail- 
Roads  leading  to  different  parts  of  this  country. 
Thus  every  part  of  this  State,  and  of  the  United  States, 
is  quickly  reached,  both  by  passengers  and  freight. 

At  every  ten  miles  throughout  its  entire  length, 
commodious  and  well-finished  station  and  freight 
houses  have  been  built.  Around  almost  every  one  of 
th'ese,  villages  are  rapidly  springing  up ;  many  of 
them  already  contain  a  population  of  from  500  to 
1,500  people,  where  eighteen  months  ago  there  was  not 
a  single  house. 

The  Road  is  built  in  the  most  superior  manner.  It 
is  stocked  with  the  very  best  locomotive  engines,  pas- 
senger and  freight  cars,  that  could  be  procured.     The 


charges  for  transporting  passengers   and    freight    are 
moderate. 


LOCATION  OF  THE  LANDS. 


The  lands  are  situated  on  each  side  of  the  Road 
between  Dunleith  and  Cairo,  on  the  main  line,  and 
between  Chicago  and  Centralia,  by  the  Chicago  Branch. 
As  it  traverses  north  and  south  from  end  to  end  of  ^the 
State,  *it  passes  through  a  great  variety  of  climates. 
Lands  may  be  thus  selected  in  various  latitudes,  to  suit 
the  disposition  of  the  purchaser.  The  Road  passes 
immediately  over  some  of  the  lands ;  others  vary  in 
distance  from  it  from  one  to  fifteen  miles. 


PRICE  AND  TERMS  OF  PAYMENT. 

The  price  will  vary,  from  $5  to  $25  per  acre,  accord- 
ing to  location,  quality,  distance  from  stations,  villages, 
&c.  Contracts  for  deeds  may  be  made  during  the  year 
1855,  stipulating  the  purchase  money  to  be  made  in 
five  payments,  with  the  succeeding  years'  interest 
added  in  advance.  The  first  payment  to  be  made  in 
two  years  from  the  date  of  the  contract,  and  the  others 
annually  thereafter. 

Interest  icill  he  charged  at  only  twojper  cent  iper  annum. 
As  a  security  for  the  performance  of  the  contract,  the 
first  two  years'  interest  must  be  paid  in  advance. 

For  instance,  suppose  you  buy  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1855,    eighty    acres  of  selected   prairie   farm  land,  at 


SIO  per  acre,  on  the  foregoing  terms.     Your  account, 
until  a  deed  is  given,  Avould  stand  thus : 

April  i,  1855.  Received  contract  for  a  Deed  for  80  Acres  of 
Land,  at  $10  per  acre,  (l?800,)  and  paid  two 
years'  Interest,  at  two  per  cent,  per  annum,  in 

■    advance, $32  00 

"       "  1857.     Paid  first  instalment  of  principal, 

.    being  one-fifth   of  ^800,    .         .         .    $160  00 
One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on 
balance  due,  ($640,)  at  two  per  cent. 

•  per  annum, 12  80— 172  80 

"       "  1858.     Paid  second  instalment,  being  one- 
fifth  as  above, 160  00 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on 
balance  due,  ($480,)  as  above,  .         .  $9  00—169  60 

"       "  1859.     Paid  third  instalment,  being  one- 
fifth  as  above,    .         .         .         .         .      160  00 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on 
balance  due,  ($320,)  as  above,  .         .         .6  40—166  40 
"       "  1860.     Paid'fourth  instalment,  being  one- 
fifth  as  above,     .         .         .         .         .     160  00 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on 
balance  due,  ($160,)  as  above,  .         .         .    3  20—163  20 
"       "  1861.     Paid  fifth  instalment,  being  one- 
fifth  as  above,  and  received  Deed,  .         .         .         160  00 


Making  the  full  payment,  principal  and  interest,  .         ,  $864  00 


It  must  be  understood  that  at  least  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  lands  purchased  shall  be  fenced  and  cultivated  each 
year  for  five  years,  so  as  to  have  one-half  of  the  pur- 
chase under  improvement  by  the  time  the  last  payment 
becomes  due. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that,  until  the  payments 
are  made  and  the  deed  of  conveyance  granted,  these 
lands  are  not  subject  to  taxation,  by  the  2 2d  Section  of 
the  Act  of  the  Legislature,  approved  Feb.  10,  1851. 


7 


FUEL. 


■  Wood  is  delivered  at  the  stations  along  the  line  of  the 
Road  at  $3  and  $4  per  cord.  In  the  southern  part  of 
the  State  it  is  afforded  in  some  places  as  low  as  $2  per 
cord.  Bituminous  Coal,  of  good  quality,  is  found  at 
several  points  of  the  Road.  It  is  sold  at  from  $1  50 
to  $3  per  ton. 


THE  VALUE  OF  THE  LAHD  FOE  FARMING  PURPOSES. 

Illinois  is  known  throughout  the  United  States  as 
the  Garden  State  of  the  Union.  It  is  justly  entitled 
to  the  name,  from  the  extraordinary  fertility  of  its 
soil.  Its  vast  tracts  of  rich,  rolling  land,  interspersed 
here  and  there  with  clumps  of  woodland,  were  called 
by  the  first  French  settlers  "Prairies,"  which,  transla- 
ted, means  natural  meadows.  Almost  the  whole  State 
is  a  natural  meadow.  Trees  are  not  required  to  be 
cut  down,  stumps  grubbed,  or  stones  picked  off,  as  is 
too  often  the  case  in  bringing  new  lands  into  cultiva- 
tion in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  There  is 
nothing  to  obstruct  the  plough.  The  soil  is  readily 
•turned  over  at  the  rate  of  two  acres  to  two  and  a 
half  per  day,  by  a  heavy  team  of  horses,  or  two  yoke 
of  oxen.  It  can  be  contracted  to  be  turned  over  for 
$2  to  $2  50  per  acre.  It  is  a  dark,  rich  soil,  from 
one  to  five  feet  in  depth.  After  the  first  year's  tillage 
the  ground  is  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  It  will 
then  iwoduce^  luith  less  labor,  as  large  a  crojp  as  any  farm 
in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States,  valued  at  $100  ^o  $150 
per  acre. 

It  costs  1  cent  per  mile  to  transport  ten  bushels  of 
wheat  on  the  Illinois  Central  Rail-Road,  from  any  part 


8 

of  the  State.  It  is  shipped  from  Chicago  to  New-York 
at  from  20  to  25  cents  per  bushel.  The  cost  of  trans- 
porting wheat  direct  from  the  Company's  lands,  one 
hundred  miles  from  Chicago  to  New- York,  is  thus 
found  to  be  from  30  to  35  cents  per  bushel.  Corn 
costs  about  27  cents  per  bushel  to  put  into  the  New- 
York  market  from  lands  along  the  Rail-Road  one  hun- 
di'ed  miles  back  of  Chicago.  The  Company  have  large 
bodies  of  lands  less  than  one  hundred  miles  from  Chi- 
cago. 

Owing  to  the  extraordinary  fertility  of  their  lands, 
with  the  same  expenditure  of  labor  as  is  bestowed  on 
farms  in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States,  a  great  deal  more 
grain  may  he  produced  than  to  pay  the  additional  expense 
of  transportation  of  the  crop  to  the  New-York^  Philadel- 
phia^ Boston^  or  any  other  Eastern  market.  The  crop 
may  be  sold  at  Chicago,  at  Eastern  prices,  less  the 
freight  to  the  Eastern  market,  and  a  small  commission 
for  attending  to  the  business.  Or,  still  better,  the 
farmer  can  sell  his  crop  delivered  at  the  nearest  Rail- 
Road  station  to  his  farm,  at  a  trifling  deduction  from 
the  Chicago  prices. 

Attention  is  requested  to  the  letter  of  the  Rev.  John 
Barger,  accompanying  this,  who  sold  his  crop  of  wheat 
at  $1  per  bushel,  delivered  at  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
Road  Company's  depot,  at  Clinton,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  miles  from  Chicago. 

The  Company  have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of 
land,  equally  as  good  as  that  of  Mr.  Barger,  lying 
immediately  alongside  of  their  Rail-Road  track,  from 
$5  to  $25  per  acre,  in  proportion  to  its  distance  from 
it.  They  have  no  lands  further  out  than  fifteen  miles 
from  the  Road. 


COST  OF  MOVING  TO  CHICAGO. 

FARES  FROM  NEW-YORK  TO  CHICAGO,  BY  THE  DIFFERENT  ROUTES. 

First  Class.      Emigrant. 

Via  New- York  and  Erie,  Buffalo  and  Erie,  Cleveland 
and  Erie,  Cleveland  and  Toledo,  and  Michigan 
Southern  Rail-Roads,  (distance  9(30  miles,)  .         .     $22  00     $11  00 

Via  New- York  and  Erie,  to  Niagara  Falls,  Great 
Western,  (Canada,)  and  Michigan  Central  Rail- 
Roads,  (distance  960  miles,)       .         .         .         .       22  00       11  00 

Via  New-York  and  Erie,  to  Buffalo,  Buffalo  and 
Brantford,  (Canada,)  Great  Western,  (Canada,) 
and  Michigan  Central  Roads,  (distance  950  miles,)       22  00       11  00 

Via  Hudson  River,  New- York  Central,  Buffalo  and 
Erie,  Cleveland  and  Toledo,  and  Michigan  Southern 
Roads,  (distance  963  miles,)       .         .         .    "     .       22  00       11  00 

Via  Hudson  River,  New- York  Central,  Great  West- 
ern, (Canada,)  and  Michigan  Central  Roads,  (dis- 
tance 961  miles,)       .         .         •         .         .         .       22  00       11  00 

Via  Hudson  River,  New- York  Central,  Bufialo  and 
Brantford,  (Canada,)  Great  Western,  (Canada,) 
and  Michigan  Central  Roads,  (967  miles,)  .       22  00       11  00 

In  summer,  the  fares  by  the  above  routes  will  be  about       18  00         9  00 

In  summer,  passengers  can  go,  via  New- York  and 
Erie,  or  Hudson  River  and  New- York  Central,  to 
Buffalo,  there  connecting  with  Lake  Erie  steam- 
ers to  Detroit  or  Monroe ;  thence,  by  Michigan 
Roads,  to  Chicago.     Fare  .         .         .         .       16  00         8  00 

In  summer,  passengers  can  go  by  steamers  on  the  Hudson  River  to 
Newburgh,  there  connecting  with  New- York  and  Erie  Road ;  or  to 
Albany,  there  connecting  with  New- York  Central  Road.  Fare,  one 
dollar  less  than  above. 

Children  over  four  years  and  under  twelve  years,  half  price ;  under 
four  years,  free.  Extra  baggage,  over  one  hundred  pounds,  $2  per 
hundred. 

Freight  on  farming  tools  and  furniture,  $1  50  per  hundred  pounds, 
which  should  be  boxed  in  packages,  not  too  large,  well  hooped,  and 
plainly  marked  with  paint,  and  not  with  cards. 

Prices  from  Boston  and  Philadelphia  range  at  about  the  same  rates. 


10 


Prices  given  for  Corn,  Wheat  and  Oats,  at  the  Chicago  Market, 
during  the  Season  of  1854. 


SPRING 

AVINTER 

1 

MONTHS. 

CORN.. 

WHEAT. 

WHEAT. 

OATS. 

January,      .     .     . 

33  to  40 

93  to    95 

106  to  115 

26 

to  261 

February, .     .     . 

45 

'  46 

117  "  120 

130  «  140 

30 

"  31 

March,  '     .     .     . 

49 

'  50 

104  "  106 

120  «  130 

27 

"  281 

April,  .... 

43 

'  44 

100  "  100 

112  "  120 

261 

"  27 

^%, 

43 

'  45 

125  "  130 

140  "  150 

30 

"  31 

June,    .... 

45 

'  46 

128  «  130 

140  «  150 

30 

"  311 

July,      .     .     .     . 

50 

'  51 

95  «  100 

115  "  120 

31 

"  33 

August,    .     .     . 

54 

'  55 

95  "  110 

140  «   150 

29 

"  30 

September, .     .     . 

60 

'  61 

100  "  120 

130  »  140 

32 

»  33 

October,    . 

54 

'  55 

90  "  105 

130  »  140 

33 

«  34 

November, .     .     . 

50.* 

'  52 

120  "  125 

130  "  145 

32 

"  33 

December,     .     . 

46  ' 

'  47 

100  «  110 

112  «  125 

23 

"  28 

What  Articles  it  will  be  best  to  Bring  out  from  the  East. 

Furniture. — Highly  finished  and  costly  furniture 
is  mostly  all  brought  from  the  East,  and  sold  at  a 
large  advance  in  the  West.  If  you  use  such  furniture, 
it  will  pay  you  to  have  what  you  require  boxed  up 
and  sent  out  from  the  East.  Plain,  substantial  furniture, 
such  as  is  generally  used  in  farm-houses,  can  be  had 
nearly  if  no  quite  as  cheap  as  at  the  East.  Stores  of  all 
kinds  can  be  bought  at  reasonable  prices. 

Agricultural  Tools. — Small  agricultural  tools  are 
more  extensively  made  at  the  East,  but  reaping,  mowing 
and  threshing  machines  are  extensively  made  at  the 
West.  Spades,  shovels,  &c.,  you  can  buy  cheaper  at  the 
East,  but  ploughs  of  different  kinds  you  can  buy  as 
reasonable  here. 

Cows  AND  Oxen. — Good  milch  cows  can  be  bought 
at  from  $15  to  $20.  Good,  well-broke  working  oxen 
can  be  had  at  from  $50  to  $80  per  yoke. 


11 

Horses  vary  from  $50  to  $75  each.  At  these  prices, 
good,  strong-limbed,  healthy  animals  can  be  purchased, 
suitable  for  farms.  Horses  are  extensively  and  cheaply 
raised  on  the  prairies  for  the  Eastern  market,  and  afford 
large  profit. 


Eeaping  and  Threshing^  with  Machinery  by  Contract. 

Reaping  Machines  are  almost  altogether  used  at  the 
West.  They  cost  $170.  They  will  cut  fourteen  acres 
of  wheat  per  day.  Contracts  for  reaping  are  made  at 
62^  cents  per  acre.  The  contractor  furnishes  a  driver 
and  two  horses;  the  farmer  finds  two  horses,  five 
binders  and  two  shockers. 

Threshing  Machines  will  thresh  300  bushels  per  day. 
It  is  generally  contracted  to  be  done  at  5  cents  per 
bushel,  the  contractor  furnishing  four  horses  and  three 
hands ;  the  farmer  furnishes  four  more  horses  and  five 
more  hands,  making  in  all  eight  hands,  viz.  :  one  driver, 
one  feeder,  one  measurer,  one  to  pitch  sheaves,  one  to 
cut  bands,  and  three  to  take  away  straw. 


TOWN    LOTS. 


At  about  every  ten  miles  along  the  Road,  the  com- 
pany have  erected  large  and  commodious  passenger, 
station  and  freight  houses.  Around  most  of  these, 
dwellings  and  stores  have  been  erected,  since  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Rail-Road.  Merchants  and  mechanics 
are  gathering  at  these  stations,  to  accommodate  the 
wants  of  the  rapidly  growing  farming  population  sur- 
rounding them.     At  most  of  the  stations  the  company 


12 

owns  the  town  plats.  Lots  are  oJBfered  on  extremely 
liberal  terms,  to  any  who  wish  to  purchase  and  build  on 
them. 

Great  opportunities  are  offered  at  these  various 
stations  for  embarking  in  the  mercantile  business, 
dealing  in  lumber  or  grain,  pork  and  beef  packing,  or 
in  a  general  produce  business.  A  country  so  fruitful 
and  productive,  with  a  population  rapidly  filling  it  up, 
must  make  each  and  all  of  these  profitable. 


FURTHER  INFORMATION. 


Sectional  Maps  of  the  Lands  of  the  Company, 
showing  the  precise  position  of  every  piece  of  land  in 
various  parts  of  the  State,  owned  by  the  Company, 
can  be  had  at  the  Chicago  Land  Office.  Plats  of  their 
towns  at  the  various  stations  throughout  the  State, 
can  also  be  seen  at  that  office.  For  any  further  in- 
formation, apply  personally  or  by  letter,  in  English, 
French  or  German,  to 

CHARLES  M.  DU  PUY,  Jr., 

Land  Agent, 

No.  52  Michigan  Avenue^  Chicago. 

Land  Department,  III,  C.  R.  R.  Co.,  ) 
Chicago,  March  1,  1855.  ) 


LETTERS  m  REGARD  TO  SOIL  ETC. 


LETTER  FROM  REV.  JOHN  S.  BARGER, 

GIVING    HIS    EXPERIENCE  IN  BREAKING    UP    AND    CULTIVATING  A  FARM    IN 
THE    VICINITY    OF   THE    RAIL-ROAD. 


Clinton,  De  Witt  Co.,  Illinois,  ) 
January  22,  1855.  \ 

Mr.  Charles  M.  Du  Pjrr,  Jr., 

Land  Agent: 

Dear  Sir, — Yours  of  the  8th  ult.  was  received  a  few  days  since,  and  I 
now  answer  it,  as  soon  as  has  been  consistent  with  other  obligations. 

Tho  statistical  information,  in  the  form  of  facts,  substantiated  by 
farmers  throughout  the  State,  which  you  propose  embodying  in  your 
contemplated  circular,  designed  to  show  "  the  result  of  well-directed 
efforts  in  Illinois  farming,"  and  to  which  I  have  the  honor  of  being  re- 
quested to  contribute,  I  regret  to  say,  I  am  not  so  well  prepared  to  give 
in  detail,  as  many  others,  from  whom  doubtless  you  will  obtain  it. 
Nevertheless,  I  may  at  least  say,  that  in  your  very  complimentary  re- 
mark, you  judge  correctly  in  part,  that  "  among  those  who  have  broken 
up  the  wild  prairie,  and  by  judicious  management  realized  large  profits," 
I  have  been  "  very  successful."  Yet,  when  the  fact  is  known,  as  it  should 
be,  in  order  to  a  correct  judgment  in  my  case,  that  I  have  been  an  itine- 
rant minister  in  the  M.  E.  Church,  without  any  cessation,  since  1823, 
(the  20th  year  of  my  age,)  it  will  be  reasonably  concluded  that  I  would 
have  been  yet  more  successful  had  my  efforts  and  management  been 
directed  by  the  superior  skill  of  a  well-trained  and  practical  farmer. 

But,  as  you  have  particularly  requested  the  facts  in  mjr  own  case,  as 
heretofore  explained  to  you,  I  here  offer  these  facts,  taken  from  my 
memoranda,  for  whatever  use  you  may  think  proper  to  make  of  them, 
and  will  leave  the  other  details  you  desire  to  other  hands,  better  pre- 
pared to  give  them. 

From  1848  to  1850,  I  purchased,  in  De  Witt  County,  and  nearly 
adjoining  Clinton,  (the  County  seat,)  400  acres  of  fine  farming  land 


14 

tlirough  whicli  tho  Illinois  Central  Railway  passes,  and,  in  the  vicinity, 
three  timhered  lots,  containing  140  acres;  making  540,  at  a  cost  of 
$1,513  19.  In  the  spring  of  1853,  I  determined  to  make  my  fivrm,  and 
accordingly  contracted  for  the  breaking  of  300  acres,  at  $G00  ;  also,  for 
making  400  rods  offence,  at  $4  75  per  100  rails  in  the  fence,  $494  19  ; 
making,  together,  $1,094  19.  Having  obtained  the  privilege  of  joining 
to  720  rods  of  fence  on  adjoining  l^irms,  I  thus  enclosed  360  acres,  and 
had  280  prepared  for  seeding. 

The  breaking  was  done  from  the  27th  of  May  to  the  9th  of  July. 
The  greater  portion  of  this  ploughed  land  might,  therefore,  have  been 
planted  in  corn,  and  harvested  in  time  for  seeding  with  wheat ;  and 
thus  I  might  have  added  considerably  to  the  avails  of  the  first  year,  had 
I  not  been  80  miles  distant,  engaged  in  the  labors  of  the  Jacksonville 
district. 

I  paid  for  seeding  300  acres,    .         .         .        '  $230  00 
"  "  •     325  bushels  seed  wheat,    .         243   75 

Add  the  cost  of  making  the  farm,     .         .  1,094  19    $1,567  94 

I  paid  for  harvesting,  threshing,  sacking  and 
delivering  at  the  Clinton  Depot,  distant  from 
the  farm  from  i  to  li  miles,    .         .         .      1,650  00 

Making  the  entire  expenditure,         .         ,  3,217  94 

sold,  at  the  Clinton  Depot,  4,378|f  bushels 
wheat,  for        .....         . 

I  kept  for  bread, 

Making  the  gross  income  of  the  first  year  of  . 

From  which  take  the  entire  expenditure,     . 

And  you  have  the  net  proceeds  of  the  first  year. 
To  which  add  the  cost  of  making  the  farm, 

Making  entire  avails  of  the  first  year. 

Furthermore,  to  do  justice  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  and  to 
show  what  the  well-directed  eff"orts  and  judicious  management  of  a  well- 
trained  and  practical  Illinois  farmer  would  have  done,  it  should  be  stated 
that,  at  least  in  my  judgment,  some  1,500  bushels  of  wheat  were  wasted 
by  untimely  and  careless  harvesting  and  threshing,  equal  to  $1,500  net 
proceeds.  Then  add  $55  33,  excess  of  payments  for  ploughing  and  seed- 
rilg  only  280  acres,  which  a  skilful  farmer  Avould  have  known  before 
making  his  contracts,  and  you  have  a  loss,  which  ought  to  have  been  a  gain, 
of  $1,555  33.  This  amount  saved  would  have  showed  the  avails  of  the 
first  year's  operation,  on  280  acres  of  the  farm,  to  have  been  $3,860  40. 


4,378 

82 

50 

00 

, 

. 

4,428 

82 

3,217 

94 

>  • 

$1,210  88 

- 

1,094 

19 

• 

$2,305 

07 

15 

Now,  Sir,  if  one  under  sucli  circumstances,  vf'ith  but  little  more  than 
a  theoretical  knowledge  of  farming,  has  succeeded  even  thus  well,  hav- 
ing hired  all  the  labor,  and  mostly  at  very  high  prices,  how  much  larger 
profits  might  have  been  realized  by  a  skilful  and  practical  farmer  de- 
voting his  whole  time  and  attention  to  his  appropriate  occupation  ? 
How  much  more  successful  thousands  of  farmers  and  farmers'  sons  on 
our  Eastern  seaboard, *and  iu  our  Eastern  States  might  be,  were  they,  or 
could  they,  be  induced  to  move  on,  and  apply  their  skill,  industry  and 
economy  in  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  and  productive  prairies  of  Illinois. 

Let  them  come,  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands — there  is  room 
enough — and  examine  the  country.  They  will  find  rich  lands  and  good 
water,  and  general  health,  almost  everywhere.  This  is  not  a  wilder- 
ness. They  will  find  schools  and  churches  springing  up  in  almost 
every  settlement  made,  and  now  being  made,  throughout  the  State. 
Illinois  is  not  a  moral  desolation.  It  literally  and  spiritually  "  blossoms 
as  the  rose."  Let  them  come  to  Chicago,  and  go  to  Galena,  and  visit 
Cairo.  But  let  them  not  remain  at  either  place,  unless  they  choose. 
The  Illinois  Central  Rail-Road  and  its  branches  traverse  the  finest  por- 
tions of  the  globe.  Let  them  glide  through  our  State  on  these  and  other 
roads,  now  checkering  almost  the  entire  of  this  "  garden  of  the  Lord," 
and  stop  where  they  will,  to  "  examine  the  land,  of  what  sort  it  is,"  and 
they  will  no  longer  consent  to  digamong  the  rocks,  and  plough  the  sterile 
lands  of  their  forefathers.  But  they  will  long  bless  the  day  when  they 
found  for  themselves  and  their  children  such  comfortable  homes  as 
they  still  may  obtain,  in  this  rich  and  beautiful  prairie  State,  destined 
soon  to  compare  with,  nay,  to  surpass,  in  all  the  most  desirable  respects, 
the  most  prosperous  State  in  the  Union. 

I  will  now  give  you  a  concise  history  of  the  operations  of  Mr.  Funk. 
Both  before  and  since  his  marriage,  he  had  made  rails  for  his  neighbors 
at  twenty-five  cents  per  100.  But  when  the  lands  where  he  lived  came 
into  market,  25  years  ago,  he  had  saved  of  his  five  years'  earnings, 
$1,400,  and  says,  if  he  had  invested  it  all  iu  lands  he  would  now  have 
been  rich.  With  $200  he  bought  his  first  quarter  section,  and  loaned 
to  his  neighbors  $800,  to  buy  their  homes  ;  and  with  the  remaining 
$400  he  purchased  a  lot  of  cattle.  With  this  beginning,  Mr.  Funk  now 
owns  7,000  acres  of  land,  ha,s  near  2,Y00  in  cultivation,  and  his  last 
year's  sale  of  cattle  and  hogs,  at  the  Chicago  market,  amounted  to  a 
little  over  $44,000. 

Mr.  Isaac  Funk,  of  Funk's  Grove,  nine  miles  distant  from  his 
brother  Jesse,  and  ten  miles  northwest  from  Bloomington  on  the  Mis- 


16 

sissippi  and  Chicago  Kail-Road,  began  tlic  world  in  Illinois  at  the  snnio 
time,  having  a  little  the  advantage  of  Jesse,  so  fivr  as  having  a  little  bor- 
rowed capital.  He  now  owns  about  27,000  acres  of  land,  has  about 
4,000  acres  in  cultivation,  and  liis  last  sales  of  cattle  at  Chicago 
amounted  to  ^5,000. 

These  families  have  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  health.     Mr.  Isaac 
Funk  has  had  10  children,  and  Mr.  Jesse  Funk  8.     In   the  family   of 
Isaac,  one  died  of  fever ;  and  in  that  of  Jesse,  one  by  an  accidental  fall ' 
from  a  wagon. 

Yours,  truly, 

JOHN  S.  BAllGER. 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  OF  B.  G.  ROOT. 

"Fencing  is  the  hardest  work  which  a  new  settler  here  has  to  per- 
form. Good  white  oak  rails,  laid  up  in  fence,  where  it  is  required,  are 
worth  from  $2  to  $3  per  hundred.  To  lessen  the  cost  of  fencing, 
it  is  very  desirable  for  several  friends  to  settle  together,  so  that  the  land 
at  first  may  be  enclosed  in  one  common  field.  4,704  rails  will  fence 
20  acres  ;  6,'720  will  fence  40  acres  ;  13,440  rails  will  fence  160  acres; 
28,880  rails  will  fence  one  section,  or  640  acres. 

"The  spring  following  that  which  the  prairie  sod  is  broken  up,  a  Mac- 
lura  hedge  should  be  set  out  around  the  portion  chosen  by  each  indi- 
vidual. Many  of  my  neighbors  make  their  own  hedges,  but  as  a  man 
can  always  dispose  of  his  labor  to  advantage  here,  I  believe  it  cheaper 
to  buy  it  than  to  make  it.  Hedging  has  become  a  trade,  to  which  a 
class  of  men  devote  themselves.  They  furnish  the  plants,  set  them  in 
the  ground,  and  cultivate  them  for  four  years,  at  15  cents  per  rod  a 
year,  making  the  whole  cost  of  hedge  60  cents  per  rod.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  four  years,  when  the  last  payment  upon  the  hedge  is  due,  it  is 
a  perfect  barrier  against  bulls,  pigs  and  all  other  animals.  The  rails  of 
which  the  outside  fence  was  made  are  then  sold  to  somebody  else,  or 
used  to  make  interior  fences.  They  will  last  for  twenty  years,  and  I 
know  not  how  much  longer.  Sixteen  years  ago,  I  purchased  an  old  im- 
provement.    Most  of  the  rails  with  which  it  was  enclosed  are  still  good. 

"  New  prairie  is  broken  to  advantage  from  the  loth  of  April  to  the 
10th  of  July,  but  I  prefer  to  have  it  broken  from  the  10th  of  May  to  the 
10th  of  June.     That  which  is  broken  previous  to  the  10th  of  June,  I 


11 

plant  in  corn,  which  yields  from  20  to  45  bushels  per  acre.  As  it 
receives  no  cultivation  after  it  is  planted,  it  is  more  affected  by  good  or 
bad  seasons  than  crops  which  are  cultivated.  That  which  is  broken  up 
after  the  10th  of  June  is  sown  with  wheat  in  September,  and  always 
yields  well.  Corn  which  is  planted  before  the  20th  of  May  is  often  cut 
up  and  wheat  sown  on  the  same  ground  in  September  or  October ;  but 
wheat  which  is  sown  so  late  is  sure  not  to  produce  as  well  as  that  sown 
'  early.  Oats  do  not  do  very  well  upon  prairie,  until  the  ground  has  been 
cultivated  two  or  three  years ;  but  the  year  following  that  on  which  it  is 
first  broken  up,  it  is  in  excellent  condition  to  produce  wheat,  barley, 
corn,  flax-seed,  castor  beans,  and  every  kind  of  garden  vegetable  which 
is  raised  in  New  England,  and  excellent  sweet  potatoes  in  abundance. 

"  With  a  good  plough  and  two  pairs  of  good  horses,  one  man  can  break 
up  one  and  a  half  acres  per  day,  of  the  new  prairie.  Two  good  yoke 
of  cattle  will  break  up  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  ground,  but  in  this 
case  a  boy  is  required  to  drive  them.  Three  good  yoke  of  cattle  will 
break  two  acres  per  day.  Previous  to  1853,  the  customary  price  for 
breaking  j)rairie  was  from  $1  50  to  $2  per  acre;  but  in  1853  the 
common  price  was  $2  50  per  acre ;  and,  as  the  demand  for  labor  always 
exceeds  the  supply,  I  think  it  will  not  be  less  than  this  sum  for  several 
years  to  come. 

"  Common  farm  hands  receive  from  $110  to  Si 30  per  annum,  and  their 
board.  I  employ  a  good  practical  working  farmer,  who  takes  charge  of 
every  thing  pertaining  to  the  farm.  I  furnish  him  house,  garden  and 
fruit  trees,  free  of  rent,  and  pay  him  $250  per  annum.  He,  with  the 
aid  of  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age,  five  breeding  mares  and  |10  worth  of 
occasional  aid,  attends  to  forty  acres  in  corn,  ten  in  wheat,  ten  in  oats,  six 
in  flax,  (cultivated  only  for  the  seed,)  ten  in  meadow  of  old  ground,  and 
breaks  up  and  plants  in  sod  corn  twenty  acres  of  new  prairie.  We 
commence  planting  corn  from  the  1st  to  the  20th  of  April,  and  finish 
from  the  1st  to  the  10th  of  June.  I  once  raised  an  excellent  crop 
planted  on  the  23d  of  June.  I  cut  up  my  corn  stalks  near  the  ground, 
before  the  frost  comes,  and  shock  it  up.  We  pull  the  ears  from  that 
which  is  to  be  fed  to  dry  cows  and  steers,  who  do  well  on  the  fodder  and 
such  nubbins  as  are  left  upon  it.  If  we  wish  to  fatten  cattle  in  the 
winter,  we  give  them  the  fodder  with  the  ears  all  remaining  on  it. 

"At  the  stations  on  the  rail-road  we  can  sell  every  thing  we  can  spare 
at  nearly  Chicago  or  New  Orleans  prices,  less  the  cost  of  transportation. 
I  believe  the  charge  from  here  to  Chicago  is  24  cents  per  bushel. 

"  We  raise  what  is  here  called  sugar-corn,  to  eat  green.  We  have  it  fit 
2 


18 

for  cooking  from  the  20th  of  Juno  till  October.  We  raisetwo  crops  of 
this  and  one  crop  of  turnips  on  the  same  ground  in  one  season.  We 
receive,  in  excellent  condition,  fresh  fish  from  the  lake,  via  Cliicago,  and 
tropical  fruits  via  New  Orleans  and  Cairo.  The  facility  -with  which  we 
dispose  of  whatever  we  have  to  sell,  and  procure  whatever  wo  wish  to 
purchase,  the  mildness  of  the  climate  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  render 
this  a  most  desirable  residence.  If  you  will  once  visit  us,  you  will 
abandon  all  idea  of  settling  in  Iowa.  You  will  learn  all  you  wish  to 
know  respecting  the  terms  upon  which  land  can  be  procured,  from  the 
pamphlet  which  I  send  you.  After  your  farm  is  once  fenced,  you  will 
have  very  little  use  for  timber  land.  Coal  here  is  rapidly  taking  the 
place  of  wood,  as  fuel.  If  wood  were  furnished  free  at  my  door,  in  logs 
of  ten  feet,  I  could  not  afford  to  burn  it.  I  buy  coal  at  such  a  rate, 
that  it  is  cheaper  to  burn  it  than  to  prepare  wood  for  stoves  and  fire- 
places. Coal  is  so  abundant  that  all  southern  Illinois  will  always  be 
supplied  at  a  low  rate. 

"  Numerous  saw-mills  are  being  erected  in  the  timber  along  the  rail- 
road, south  of  Big  Muddy  River.  Some  are  completed,  and  lumber  yards 
are  established  at  almost  every  station,  where  the  pine  of  the  North 
meets  the  poplar,  cypress,  black  walnut,  sycamore,  maple  and  oak,  from 
the  South.  There  are  saw-mills  in  the  smaller  portions  of  timber  which 
occur  at  short  intervals  in  this  part  of  the  State,  but  they  are  fully  occu- 
pied in  supplying  the  demand  in  their  immediate  vicinity. 

"I  planted  an  orchard  of  apple  and  peach  trees  in  1843.  The  peach 
trees  commenced  bearingin  1845,  and  the  apple  in  184V;  and,  although 
the  yield  is  not  uniform  in  amount,  we  have  enough  excellent  fruit  every 
year.  My  cherries,  currants,  gooseberries  and  grapes  have  received 
very  little  attention,  but  they  yield  abundantly.  Clover  is  a  difficult 
crop  to  start  well,  but  when  once  well  set,  it  thrives.  Timothy,  red 
orchard  grass  and  blue  grass,  set  easily  after  the  prairie  has  been  culti- 
vated, and  yield  well.  The  greatest  difficulty  here  is  the  want  of  labor. 
It  is  so  easy  to  become  the  owner  of  land,  that  almost  every  man  who 
is  worth  hiring,  becomes  the  owner  of  a  farm  within  a  few  years,  and 
wants  to  hire  laborers  himself. 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"B.  G.  ROOT." 


19 

LETTER  FROM  A.  J.  GALLOWAY. 

FARM    IN    THE    VICIKITY    OF   THE    COMPANY'S    LANDS. 


EwiNGTON,  EflBngham  Co.,  Illinois,      | 
February  12,1855.  \ 
Charles  M.  Du  Pur,  Esq., 

Zand  Agent  Illinois  Central  Rail-Road  : 

Dear  Sir, — My  residence  in  Illinois  began  in  April,  ISSY.  During 
the  first  four  yeai-s  I  resided  in  Wabash  County,  after  which  I  removed 
to  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  in  1842,  purchased  some  lands 
in  La  Salle  County.  From  that  until  the  present  time,  I  have  been 
making,  cultivating  and  extending  my  farm. 

The  subsoil  of  the  prairie  land  throughout  the  State,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  is  a  compact  clay,  through  which  water  settles  but  slowly, 
thus  securing  great  durability  to  the  natural  soil,  as  well  as  effectually 
preventing  the  escape  of  artificial  manures,  by  the  process  of  leeching. 
Upon  very  level  prairie,  this  characteristic  causes  the  land  to  be  too  wet 
for  the  profitable  cultivation  of  the  several  kinds  of  grain,  without  some 
special  preparation ;  this,  however,  may  be  almost  universally  overcome 
by  manuring,  and  deep  and  thorough  ploughing ;  deep  ploughing  alone 
will  prove  effectual  in  a  large  majority  of  instances. 

South  of  the  parallel  of  forty-one  degrees  north  latitude,  the  staple 
production  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  Indian  corn  or  maize,  though 
almost  all  grain  and  vegetables,  grown  in  a  temperate  climate,  may  be 
profitably  cultivated,  and  should  not  be  neglected. 

During  my  residence  upon  my  farm  in  La  Salle  County,  our  average 
crop  of  corn,  say  on  a  field  of  eighty  acres,  did  not  vary  much  from  fifty 
bushels  per  acre.  Winter  wheat,  (for  I  think  spring  wheat  a  nuisance,) 
upon  a  field  of  thirty  acres,  varied  in  different  years  from  nineteen  to 
twenty-three  bushels  per  acre,  harvested  with  McCormick's  Reaper,  and 
threshed  and  separated  by  machines  built  at  Alton,  Illinois.  Oats  varied 
from  forty  to  sixty  bushels  per  acre,  and  in  One  instance,  upon  a  small 
lot  of  four  acres,  I  obtained  almost  one  hundred  bushels  per  acre. 

My  estimate  for  the  cost  of  production  and  preparation  for  market; 
previous  to  1850,  after  allowing  thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the  crop  for  the 
use  of  the  land,  was  forty  cents  per  bushel  for  wheat,  and  about  fifteen 
cents  per  bushel  for  com  and  oats. 

I  could  usually  obtain  good  farm  hands  (men)  at  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars  per  year,  with  board  and  lodging  furnished. 

The  many  difficulties  with  which  a  single  hand  upon  a  farm  has  to 


20 

contend,  render  it  hard  to  say  what  one  man,  with  a  pair  of  horses,  can 
cnltivate  properly — certainly  not  to  exceed  forty  acres ;  whereas,  two 
men,  with  four  horses,  could  readily  manage  a  hundred  acres,  and  three 
men,  with  about  five  horses,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  in  addition  to 
the  usual  amount  of  land  devoted  to  meadow  and  grasses. 

In  reply  to  your  ninth  interrogatory,  I  would  say  that  south  of  the 
parallel  I  have  mentioned,  nearly  one-half  of  the  whole  ftirm  devoted  to 
grain  and.  vegetables,  should  be  planted  in  corn,  and  three-fourths  of  the 
remainder  in  wheat  and  oats,  in  about  equal  quantities.  The  cultivation 
of  barley,  rye,  potatoes,  &c.,  should,  be  governed  by  the  character  of 
the  farm,  its  position  in  relation  to  markets,  and  somewhat  by  the  tastes, 
education  and  habits  of  the  farmer. 

In  La  Salle  County,  where  wood  land  is  not  so  plenty  as  it  is  in  this 
region,  a  good  common  rail  fence  would  cost  about  seventy-five  cents  per 
rod,  but  I  have  contracted  for  a  number  of  miles  of  such  fence,  eight 
rails  high,  staked  and  riddered,  with  a  sound  block  under  each  corner,  to 
be  built  in  this  and  some  other  counties  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail-Road, 
at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  per  rod, 

I  have  tried  different  methods  of  turning  up  or  breaking  prairie  sod, 
and  am  fully  satisfied  that  where  the  prairie  is  clear,  that  is,  destitute  of 
hazel  bushes  or  other  woody  growth,  a  man  who  understands  the  busi- 
ness, with  a  good  pair  of  horses  and  a  plough  properly  constructed,  such 
as  was  manufactured  a  few  years  since  in  Indian  Town,  Bureau  County, 
can  do  the  work  better  and  cheaper  than  in  any  other  way  that  has  ever 
come  under  my  observation.  One  acre  and  a  half  per  day  is  a  fair 
average  for  such  a  team.  Prairie  should  alwaj's  be  broken  between  the 
10th  of  May  and  the  20th  of  June,  in  the  latitude  of  La  Salle  County. 
In  this  county  the  work  should  be  completed  as  early  as  the  10th  of 
June. 

For  persons  wishing  to  make  a  settlement  in  Illinois,  I  should  advise 
about  the  same  course  for  almost  any  part  of  the  State  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  The  first  thing  such  person  should  do  is  to  make  a  personal 
examination  of  the  country,  and  select  a  location.  Then  if  he  should 
•have  the  means  to  spare,  and  could  purchase  forty  or  eighty  acres  of 
good  prairie  land,  not  more  than  five  miles  from  where  materials  for 
■  building,  fencing  and  fuel  can  be  obtained,  at  reasonable  rates,  and  get 
a  long  credit  upon  three-fourths  of  the  purchase  money,  I  should  advise 
•  him  to  secure  it  at  once. 

He  should  then  procure  a  good  pair  of  horses  and  wagon,  a  cow,  a  few 
cpigs,  and  some  poultry,  and  two  good  ploughs,  one  for  breaking  prairie  and 


21 

the  other  for  cultivating  land  already  sulxlued.  Thus  provided,  it  would 
be  well  if  he  could  rent  a  small  tenement  with  a  few  acres  of  improved  land 
near  his  own,  for  a  year  or  two,  until  he  could  get  his  farm  under  way. 
But  if  no  such  tenement  could  be  obtained,  he  should  at  once  build  a 
cheap  house  upon  his  own  land,  and  push  forward  his  improvements. 

Prairie  sod  broken  in  the  manner  and  at  the  time  heretofore  stated, 
will  be  sufficiently  rotten  to  cross  plough  as  early  as  the  tenth  of  August. 
This  cross  ploughing  should  not  be  neglected,  and  in  the  north  of  the  State 
wheat  should  be  sown  broad-cast,  and  harrowed  both,  ways,  or  drilled  in 
by  a  proper  machine,  about  the  first  of  September.  Wheat  sown  upon 
such  land  in  this  manner,  rarely  fails  to  produce  an  excellent  crop.  The 
next  two  years  after  the  wheat  is  taken  off  the  ground,  two  good  crops 
of  corn  may  be  produced,  with  comparatively  little  labor.  Oats  is  per- 
haps the  proper  grain  for  the  fourth  crop ;  and  by  that  time,  if  tlie  new 
settler  be  a  man  of  reasonably  perceptive  powers,  he  will  have  made 
himself  sufficiently  well  acquainted  with  the  soil,  climate,  rotation  of 
crops,  etc.,  to  manage  his  farm  to  good  advantage.  Much  may  be  learned 
from  the  many  agricultural  periodicals  with  which  our  country  abounds, 
and  no  farmer  should  be  without  one  or  more  of  these  valuable  aids. 
'  But,  to  succeed  well,  he  must  thoroughly  investigate  the  local  peculiari- 
ties of  his  own  neighborhood,  and  especially  those  of  his  own  farm. 

There  is  a  general  and  growing  disposition  throughout  the  State  to 
educate ;  and  in  a  very  few  years  all  the  educational  facilities  which  exist 
in  the  Eastern  States  will  be  at  the  command  of  the  citizens  of  Illinois. 

There  is  little  disease  at  any  time  in  the  State,  which  may  not  be  traced, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  derangement  in  the  biliary  organs,  and  mucli  of 
this  should,  no  doubt,  be  attributed  to  the  free  use  of  heavy  bread,  strong 
coffee,  and  a  large  amount  of  animal  food,  to  the  partial  or  total  exclusion 
of  vegetable  diet.  I  think  I  am  free  from  prejudice  when  I  say  that,  ex- 
cept in  the  valleys  of  the  larger  streams,  but  more  especially  upon  the  high 
rolling  prairies  of  middle  and  northern  Illinois,  a  more  healthy  country 
is  not  to  be  found,  even  in  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  older  States, 

In  these  hasty  lines  I  have  endeavored  to  answer  some  of  your  inter- 
rogatories as  categorically  as  their  nature  would  perniit,without  attempting 
to  sustain  my  opinions  by  argument.  If  they  should  prove  of  the  least 
service  to  you  or  others,  I  shall  be  more  than  compensated  for  the  very 
little  time  and  attention  which  I  have  felt  at  liberty  to  bestow  upon  them. 
Eespectfully, 

Your  ob't  serv't, 

A.  J.  GALLOWAY. 


22 


LETTER  FROM  0.  G.  TAYLOR. 

Fleasakt  Ridge,  Rock  Island  Co.,  111.,  ) 
February  8th,  1865.       J 
Charles  M.  Du  Put,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir, — I  was  raised  in  Jeflferson  County,  N.  Y,,  in  and  among 
the  log  cabins,  stumps,  rocks  and  snow  banks.  My  father  was  a  farmer. 
I  know  full  well  what  it  costs  to  farm  in  Northern  New-York,  from  the 
felling  of  the  first  tree,  to  the  farm  under  good  cultivation.  I  moved  to 
this  State  in  the  spring  of  1844,  and  have  been  engaged  in  farming  most 
of  the  time  since.  The  soil  of  Illinois  is  a  dark,  rich  mould,  varying 
from  two  to  six  feet  in  depth,  of  clay  bottom.  There  is  but  little  sandy 
soil  in  this  part  of  the  State.  About  one-tenth  is  covered  with  timber, 
and  that  usually  on  the  borders  of  our  rivers  and  small  streams.  Tim- 
ber land  is  held  at  from  $10  to  $50  per  acre,  according  to  location  and 
quality. 

Our  water  is  usually  hard.  There  are  not  many  springs,  owing  to  the 
lowness  of  the  land,  but  water  is  easily  obtained  by  digging,  and  usually 
found  in  abundance,  at  the  depth  of  from  ten  to  twenty-five  feet.  There 
is,  in  general,  a  great  supply  of  water  for  cattle,  in  our  ravines  and 
sloughs. 

Stone  and  brick  for  cellars  are  scarce  on  our  prairies,  but  cement, 
plastered  on  a  mud  wall,  answers  very  well,  and  makes  a  neat  and  dry 
cellar.  Fencing  materials  are  also  scarce.  Pine  lumber  and  oak  posts 
are  now  mostly  used  by  the  new  settlers.  This  kind  of  fence  can  be  put 
up  at  about  80  to  90  cents  per  rod  ;  depending,  however,  somewhat  on 
the  distance  it  has  to  be  hauled.  Materials  for  building  are  procured  in 
rafts  on  our  rivers,  or  at  Chicago,  and  taken  by  team  or  rail-road,  to 
any  part  of  the  State. 

The  breaking  of  prairie  is  mostly  done  in  May  and  June,  and  gener- 
ally with  ox-teams  of  four  or  six  yoke, — the  plough  cutting  a  furrow  from 
sixteen  to  twenty-two  inches  wide  and  about  three  inches  deep.  Of  late, 
however,  so  many  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  form  and  draught 
of  ploughs,  that  much  of  our  vast  prairie  lands  can  easily  be  broken  with 
one  pair  of  horses,  which  can  plough  from  one  and  a  quarter  to  one  and  a 
half  acres  per  day,  which  is  preferable  to  that  done  with  a  large  plough- 
This  every  farmer  can  do  with  his  own  team,  and  cheaper  than  to  hire 
and  pay  $2  60  per  acre.  I  broke  fifteen  acres  last  summer,  at  the  rate 
of  one  and  a  half  acres  per  day,  with  a  pair  of  mares,  each  having  colts, 
and  did  it  to  perfection.     The  ploughs  are  made  at  Moline,  in  this  county, 


23 

at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  per  week,  by  J,  Drew.  They  are 
made  of  the  best  German  steel  for  $10.  A  rolling  coulter  is  better. 
These  ploughs  are  scattered,  by  rail-roads,  all  over  the  State. 

Sod  corn,  if  planted  in  the  month  of  May,  and  the  weather  is  not  too 
warm,  will  yield,  per  acre,  from  twenty  to  forty  bushels.  The  planting 
is  done  by  sticking  an  ax  or  a  spade  between  the  layers  of  sod,  and, 
after  dropping  the  corn,  apply  the  heel  of  the  boot  freely.  It  needs  no 
culture.  If  a  very  light  crop  of  corn  is  raised,  the  stalks  may  be  remov- 
ed and  the  ground  sown  with  Avinter  wheat.  K  a  heavy  crop  of  corn  is 
raised,  it  will  take  too  much  work  to  clear  the  ground  of  the  stalks,  and 
the  stumps  and  roots  will  be  a  great  hindrance  to  the  harrow,  as  the  corn 
roots  are  strongly  set  in  the  sod.  As  sod  corn  cannot  be  relied  on  with 
safety,  it  is,  perhaps,  better  to  let  the  sod  lie  until  September,  and  then 
sow  with  wheat,  and  harrow  thoroughly.  This  is  almost  invariably  a  sure 
crop,  more  so  than  any  of  the  after  ones,  as  the  sod  holds  the  roots  dur- 
ing our  usually  dry  and  snowless  winter.  Or,  the  sod  may  lie  till  spring, 
and  then  be  sown  with  spring  wheat,  and  harrowed  only.  Let  it  be  cross- 
ploughed,  and  we  have  what  no  field  can  be  in  the  Eastern  States,  with  all 
the  manure  combined.  -The  soil  being  a  black  mould,  and  very  mellow, 
any  thing  will  grow  in  it  that  grows  in  this  latitude.  Spring  wheat  and 
oats  are  liable  to  grow  too  rank.  They  should  be  sown  as  soon  as  the 
frost  is  out  of  the  ground,  that  the  straw  may  have  a  stunted  growth, 
If  sown  late,  say  after  the  first  of  April,  too  much  straw  is  grown,  which 
is  liable  to  cause  the  wheat  to  blast,  smut,  &c.  We  have  no  summer 
fallows  in  this  section,  having  seen  none  in  Illinois.  We  raise  but  little 
winter  wheat  after  the  first  crop,  on  the  first  breaking,  until  we  break  up 
a  tame  meadow  or  pasture ;  then  again  we  have  a  fine  crop.  Our  usual 
mode  of  raising  spring  wheat,  oats  and  barley,  is  to  sow  on  the  fall  plough- 
ing, or  on  corn  ground  without  ploughing,  only  harrowing.  I  raised  over 
twenty-five  bushels  per  acre,  of  the  best  of  wheat,  last  year,  on  corn 
ground,  without  ploughing,  and  sixty  bushels  of  oats.  One  team  can  do 
the  work  on  a  farm  of  fifty  or  sixty  acres,  if  all  the  breaking  is  done. 
All  stubble  land  should  be  ploughed  in  the  fall,  and  be  ready  for  the  small 
grain  in  the  spring.  One  man  and  two  horses  can  easily  tend  thirty  to 
forty  acres  of  corn,  one  ploughing  for  which  is  suflficient ;  then  mark  off 
both  ways,  rows  about  three  and  a  half  feet  wide,  and  plant  the  seed 
with  a  machine  or  a  hoe.  A  man  can  cover  four  acres  per  day  ;  a  small 
boy  can  drop  the  seed.  Harrow  with  a  three-cornered  harrow,  by  knock- 
ing out  the  forward  teeth,  so  soon  as  the  corn  is  out  of  the  ground,  then 
use  the  cultivator  Or  one-horse  plough,  and  work  it  both  ways ;  twice  work- 


24 

ing  after  hanwving  is  sufficient ;  no  booing  required.  A  fair  yield  of 
winter  wheat  is  about  twenty-five  bushels  per  acre ;  spring  wheat,  twenty 
to  thirty  ;  oats,  forty  to  seventy-five ;  barley,  twenty  to  forty ;  winter 
rye,  twenty  to  thirty  ;  corn,  forty  to  eighty;  potatoes,  100  to  300. 

We  commence  to  harvest  our  corn  about  the  10th  of  October.  There 
is  more  harvested  in  December  than  in  any  other  month.  Corn  can  be 
raised  and  cribbed  at  12i  cents  per  bushel.  Our  small  grain  is  all  cut 
by  machinery.  A  machine  followed  by  six  binders  cut  and  shock  from 
ten  to  fifteen  acres  per  day.  Price  of  cutting,  50  to  62  J-  cents  per  acre. 
To  binders,  we  pay  from  $1  to  $1  25  per  day.  As  it  is  impossible 
to  house  all  our  grain,  it  is  stacked.  Threshing  is  also  done  by  ma- 
chinery. This,  with  cleaning,  will  cost  5  cents  per  bushel  for  wheat ; 
oats,  21  cents.  The  straw  is  usually  stacked,  to  which  the  cattle  have 
free  access  during  the  winter. 

Our  market  is  at  Chicago  or  St,  Louis,  No  part  of  our  State  is  far 
from  rail-road  or  steamboat  shipping,  having  about  1,800  miles  of 
the  former  now  in  good  running  order,  and  about  1,000  miles  of  river 
navigation. 

Our  charges  correspond  with  the  Eastern  market,  with  the  freight 
charge  deducted. 

Our  soil  is  well  calculated  for  the  production  of  the  tame  grasses. 
Our  meadows  yield  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  tons  per  acre.  Ground 
that  has  been  mown  for  ten  or  fifteen  years,  produces  better  crops  than 
the  new  land,  because  the  top  soil,  which  is  principally  composed  of  de- 
cayed grass  and  the  ashes  deposited  by  annual  burnings,  is  very  loose 
and  open.  After  deep  ploughing,  and  comparatively  using  up  this  top 
soil,  we  obtain  a  more  compact  and  fine  soil,  which  will  hold  the  roots  of 
the  grass  firm  and  secure.  Clover  grows  luxuriously,  but  the  trouble  is, 
there  is  not  a  sufficient  quantity  sown  to  supply  the  great  demand. 

There  has,  until  lately,  but  little  attention  been  paid  to  the  raising  of 
stock.  At  this  present  time,  we  can  boast  of  being  equal  to  the  other 
States,  in  some  choice  selections  of  the  best  stock  in  the  Union,  Only 
a  small  portion  of  our  prairie  is  yet  broken.  The  cattle  roam  as  upon  a 
"  thousand  hills"  during  the  summer ;  but  in  the  winter  are  fed  upon 
straw,  standing  corn  stalks  and  prairie  hay.  Very  little  corn  fodder  is 
cut  and  cured,  being  too  heavy  to  handle.  Probably  nine-tenths  of  our 
hay,  as  yet,  is  cut  upon  our  prairies,  which  makes,  if  well  cured,  excel- 
lent feed.  Any  quantity  of  this  hay  can  be  cut  in  any  section,  yielding 
from  one  to  three  tons  per  acre,  I  have  fed,  for  several  winters,  between 
sixty  and  ninety  head  of  cattle  upon  prairie  hay,  and  have  not  lost  a 


25 

single  one  by  disease.  Our  Lay  is  cut  by  mowing  machines  at  50  to  62^ 
cents  per  acre.  It  costs,  counting  work,  board  of  hands,  &c.,  about  one 
to  two  dollars  per  ton  in  the  stack.  The  feed  for  a  cow,  aside  from  grain, 
will  not  exceed  |3  per  year.  Our  pasture  is  free.  Our  prairie  grass  is 
fully  equal  to  tame  grass  for  butter,  cheese,  &c.,  up  to  the  time  of  frost, 
which  is  usually  about  the  10th  of  October.  The  product  from  my  dairy 
of  about  thirty-five  cows,  for  the  last  six  years,  has  been  on  an  average 
about  $20  per  cow,  beside  the  slop  for  hogs,  and  the  feed  for  nearly  as 
many  calves.  Last  year  the  price  of  butter  in  this  part  of  the  State  was 
twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  pound  ;  cheese  nine  to  twelve  and  a  half  cents. 
I  think  these  figures  will  be  near  the  standard  for  years  to  come. 

In  regard  to  fruit,  J  would  just  mention  that  Whiteside  County,  Illi- 
nois, took  the  first  prize  at  New- York  last  fall.  Apple  trees,  to  any 
amount  and  of  all  varieties,  can  be  had  in  our  nurseries  from  121  to  15 
cents  a  piece.  No  new  or  old  settler  should  fail  to  raise  the  Osage 
Orange  or  Madura  hedge.  With  proper  care,  in  four  years  he  will  have 
a  living  fence,  the  entire  cost  of  which  will  not  have  exceeded  25  cents 
per  rod.  How  beautiful  will  our  State  appear,  in  a  few  more  years,  with 
our  farms  surrounded  by  this  evergreen  shrub.  There  is  no  State  in 
the  Union  that  can  support  so  large  a  population  as  Illinois.  Now  not 
more  than  one-tvyelfth  part  of  the  surface  is  under  cultivation.  There  is 
scarcely  an  acre  that  can  be  called  waste  ground.  We  have  no  moun- 
tains nor  rocks  ;  no  stumps  to  grub  out ;  no  stones  to  pick  off,  and  seldom 
a  snow  bank  to  wallow  through.  I  believe  if  this  State  were  cultivated 
as  New-York  or  Massachusetts,  it  would  feed  the  Union.  The  popula- 
tion is  about  1,000,000.  A  grant  of  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  land  is  set 
apart  by  Congress  for  public  schools.  Our  State  debt  will  all  be  paid  in 
a  few  years,  by  the  internal  resources,  without  the  increase  of  taxation. 
This  debt  has  been  a  bug-bear  to  some  of  our  Eastern  friends,  declining 
to  locate  with  us,  for  fear  of  being  obliged  to  help  pay  it.  This  objection 
is  now  removed.  Why  the  Eastern  emigrants  seek  a  home  in  Nebraska, 
Minnesota  or  even  Iowa,  is  strange  to  my  mind.  Illinois  has  all  the  ad- 
vantages that  any  reasonable  man  could  desire.  Our  rail-roads  are  now 
so  connected  that  we  have  access  to  any  part  of  the  Union,  and  the  East- 
ern market  is  brought  to  our  very  doors. 

For  the  information  of  some  who  are  desirous  to  know  more  definite 
particulars,  I  will  here  add  the  course  pursued  by  my  first  neighbor, 


26 

William  Waitk,  in  starting  his  prairie  farm.     In  the  spring  of  1853  he 
bought  eighty  acres  of  prairie,  for  $4,50  per  acre,  making 

Whole  value  of  the  entire  farm  to  be  only $360 

Broke  60  acres,  at  $2  50  per  acre 150 

Fenced  60  acres,  $1  per  rod,  400  rods  of  board  fence, 400 

Sowed  40  acres  with  winter  wheat,  H  bushels  to  the  acre,  at  $1 

per  bushel, ', 60 

Sowing  and  harrowing,  15  cents  per  acre, 80 

Harvesting  and  marketing,  $1  50  per  acre, 60 

Threshing  and  cleaning  1,100  bushels,  at  10  cents  per  bushel 110 

Hauling  15  miles  to  rail-road,  6  cents  per  bushel, 66 — $1,236 

Planted  twenty  acres  with  corn : 

Ploughing  20  acres  in  the  spring,  at  75  cents, $15 

Marking  off  and  planting, ^ 15 

Cultivating,  at  $1  25  per  acre, 25 

Harvesting,  at  $1  per  acre 20 

Threshing  and  hauling  15  miles,  to  rail-road,  1,000  bushels,  at 

10  cents  per  bushel 100       $175 

Total  cost  of  farm  and  crops, $1,411 

1,100  bushels  of  wheat,  at  $1   15  per  bushel, $1,265 

1,000  bushels  of  corn,  at  28  cents  per  bushel, 280 

Total  amount  of  crops, $1,645 

Profits  of  60  acres,  after  paying  all  expenses,  &c., $134 

and  20  acres  of  land  unbroken.     This  farm  is  now  worth  |25  per  acre. 
Eespectfully  yours,  C.  G.  TAYLOR. 

LETTER  FROM  W.  H.  MUNN,  ESQ.,  MARSHALL  CO.,  ILL. 
Mr.  Du  Puy  : 

Dear  Sir, — Yours  of  the  2d  instant,  containing  many  important 
questions  relative  to  what  an  industrious  farmer  can  do  on  the  prairies  of 
Illinois,  has  been  received,  and  though  I  am  very  busy  at  this. time 
grafting,  I  will  not  delay  giving  you  a  brief  reply. 

You  ask  me  to  state  my  own  case,  but  I  wish  to  be  excused,  for  I 
have  devoted  the  most  of  my  time  and  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
Madura  hedge  plant,  ever  since  I  have  .been  a  resident  of  the  State. 

An  industrious  man,  who  has  but  a  small  capital  (S200  to  $400)  to 
commence  with,  can  soon  have  a  farm,  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
in  good  state  of  cultivation,  provided  he  has  health,  and  is  a  good 
economist. 

In  the  first  place  he  must  put  up  a  shanty  of  some  kind  to  live  in  ; 
then  some  kind  of  a  cheap  fence  that  will  turn  cattle  and  horses,  (these 
being  the  only  stock  permitted  to  run  at  large,)  for  four  or  five  years, 
and  by  that  time  he  can  have  a  good  living  fence  that  will  turn  all  kinds 
of  stock,  and  be  as  durable  almost  as  the  land  upon  which  it  stands. 


27 

About  the  1st  of  May  is  the  time  to  commence  breating  prairie.  A 
good  pair  of  horses  will  turn  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  acres  per  day. 

What  is  not  planted  in  corn  should  be  sown  in  fall  wheat,  and  will 
generally  turn  off  about  twenty  bushels  per  acre.  New  land  is  the  best 
for  wheat,  and  the  third  crop  is  considered  the  best  for  corn. 

Prairie  breaking  is  worth  from  |2  to  $2  25  per  acre.  Good  hands 
demand  here,  for  the  last  two  years,  from  $175  to  $200  per  annum. 

After  the  first  year's  crop,  we  get  from  ten  to  twenty  bushels  of  wheat 
per  acre,  and  from  thirty  to  fifty  of  corn.  An  industrious  man  can 
manage  eighty  acres,  by  having  a  little  help  in  seed  time  and  harvest. 
The  prairie  grass  makes  excellent  hay  for  cattle  and  horses.  It  is  some- 
what difficult  to  sell  the  crop  in  the  field,  as  every  man  has  as  much  of 
his  own  raising  to  harvest  as  he  can  get  done  in  good  time. 

I  have  travelled  considerably,  but  I  know  of  no  other  State  that  affords 
to  the  farmer  so  many  conveniences  as  this  one.  It  costs  but  little  to 
make  a  farm,  and  when  it  is  made  it  is  a  good  one — one  that,  with 
proper  management,  will  always  yield  a  good  crop,  which,  delivered  at 
some  rail-road  station,  will  always  bring  a  good  price.  Improvements 
pay  well,  should  you  wish  to  sell  the  farm. 

The  above  was  written  in  great  haste,  and  the  half  is  not  told.  You 
may  use  it  if  you  think  it  will  be  of  any  service  to  you  or  any  one. 

Yours,  very  respectfully,  W.  H.  MUNN. 

LETTER  FROM  J.  AMBROSE  WIGHT,  ESQ., 
EDITOR    OF    THE    PRAIRIE    FARMER. 

Charles  M.  Du  Put,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir, — At  your  request  I  would  state  that,  from  an  acquaintance 
with  Illinois  lands  and  Illinois  farmers,  of  eighteen  years,  thirteen  of 
which  I  have  been  engaged  as  editor  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  I  am  pre- 
pared to  give  the  following  as  the  rates  of  produce  which  may  be  had 
per  acre,  with  ordinary  culture : 

Winter  wheat, 15     to     25  bushels. 

Spring  wheat, 10     to    20         " 

Indian  corn, 40     to     70         " 

Oats, 40     to     80         " 

Potatoes, 100     to  200        " 

Grass,  (timothy  and  clover,) li  to       3  tons. 

"  Ordinary  culture  "  on  prairie  lands  is  not  what  is  meant  by  the  term 
in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States.  It  means,  here,  no  manure ;  and  com- 
monly hut  once,  or,  at  most,  twice  ploughing,  on  perfectly  smooth  land, 
with  long  furrows,  and  no  stones  or  obstructions  ;  when  two  acres  per 


28 

day  is  no  liard  job  for  ono  team.     It  is  often  but  very  poor  culture,  with 
shallow  ploughing,  and  without  attention  to  weeds. 

I  have  known  crops,  not  unfrequently,  far  greater  than  these,  with  but 
little  variation  in  their  treatment ;  say  forty  to  fifty  bushels  of  winter 
wheat,  sixty  to  eighty  of  oats,  three  hundred  of  potatoes,  and  ono  hun- 
dred of  Indian  corn.  "  Good  culture,''*  Avhich  means  rotation,  deep 
plougliing,  farms  well  stocked,  and  some  manure,  applied  at  intervals  of 
from  three  to  five  years,  would,  in  good  seasons,  very  often  approach 
these  latter  figures. 

Yours,  truly,        J.  AMBROSE  WIGHT. 

Januarv  0,  1855. 


LETTER  FROM  H.  H.  HENDRICK 

Batavia,  Kane  Co.,  111.,  Feb.  21,  1855. 
Charles  Du  Puy,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir,— Your  letter  and  circular  of  February  2d  was  received  a 
few  days  since.  Owing,  I  suppose,  to  the  obstructions  of  the  rail-roads 
by  the  snow,  and  further,  as  I  have  changed  my  place  of  residence,  and 
purchased  a  small  place  near  Batavia,  your  letter  was  first  sent  to 
Northville,  and  then  back  to  Batavia,  which  retarded  it  still  longer. 
But  I  will  now  endeavor  to  answer  your  questions,  from  my  own  expe- 
rience, as  well  as  I  can. 

When  I  first  came  to  Illinois,  in  November,  1835,  I  had  but  small 
means  to  commence  with  in  a  new  country.  The  next  spring  I  went 
eighteen  miles  north  of  Chicago,  and  purchased  a  claim  (as  it  was  then 
called)  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  commenced  improvement. 
I  practiced  surveying  to  some  extent,  which  enabled  me  to  purchase 
necessaries,  till  I  could  procure  them  from  my  own  soil.  After  staying- 
there  six  years,  not  liking  that  portion  of  the  country  very  well,  I  sold 
out,  and  purchased  upwards  of  two  hundred  acres  on  the  west  side  of 
Fox  River,  twenty  miles  above  Ottowa,  for  which  I  paid  a  little  less  than 
$2  50  per  acre.  I  then  commenced  improving  it ;  and  as  my  means 
were  still  very  limited,  I  was  obliged  to  proceed  with  caution.  However, 
I  got  up  a  house,  fenced  and  broke  up  seventy  acres  in  two  seasons,  Avith 
very  little  help.  My  plough  cut  about  twenty  or  twenty-two  inches,  and  I 
broke  about  two  acres  per  day,  with  four  yoke  of  cattle,  the  sod  being 
very  tough.  I  sometimes  put  on  five  yoke.  I  then  sowed  twenty  acres 
with  winter  wheat,  on  ground  from  which  one  crop  had  been  taken,  and 
twenty  acres  of  spring  wheat,  on  new  prairie,  after  the  ground  had  been 
ploughed  again  in  the  spring.     The  whole  was  good,  and  yielded  twenty 


29 

bushels  per  acre,  of  the  first  quality.  But,  as  wheat  was  then,  and  for 
several  years  afterwards,  very  low,  and  we  had  to  transport  it  a  long 
distance  to  market  with  teams,  it  little  more  than  paid  the  expense  of 
raising,  &c,  Ojie  year  I  had  twenty-five  bushels  of  wheat  on  ground 
from  which  one  crop  of  corn  had  been  taken ;  and  had  the  weather  been 
not  quite  so  hot  a  few  days  before  harvest,  I  think  it  would  have  yielded 
thirty  bushels.  My  average  crops  have  been  from  fifteen  to  twenty-two 
bushels  per  acre ;  one  year,  and  only  one,  I  had  but  thirteen  and  one 
half  bushels. 

The  best  Avay,  I  think,  to  raise  winter  wheat  on  new  prairie,  is  to 
break  it  in  June  very  shallow,  and  cross-plough  it  a  little  deeper  than  it 
was  broke,  about  the  end  of  August;  then  sow  and  harrow  it  well,  and 
leave  it  as  rough  as  you  can.  If  among  corn,  sow  about  the  last  of 
August  or  first  of  September,  and  put  it  in  with  a  double  shovel  plough, 
by  going  twice  in  a  row.  Stock  must  not  be  allowed  to  run  on  it,  unless 
the  ground  is  covered  with  snow.  The  stalks  must  be  cut  or  broken, 
down  in  the  spring.  To  break  them  down,  I  take  a  pole,  ten  or  twelve 
feet  in  length,  and  hitch  a  team  to  it  so  as  to  draw  it  sideways,  when  the 
snow  is  oft",  and  the  ground  and  stalks  frozen,  and  break  three  rows  at 
once.  One  man  and  team  will  break  thirty  acres  in  a  day.  I  roll  all 
my  small  grain  in  the  spring,  and  think  it  grows  evener,  and  know  it  is 
better  harvesting.  Wheat  does  well  on  the  sod,  if  put  in  as  I  describe, 
often  yielding  twenty  bushels  or  more  per  acre.  Corn  on  sod  is  rather 
precarious.  I  have  never  tried  to  any  extent,  but  some  have  raised 
twenty  or  thirty  bushels  per  acre. 

My  method  of  raising  corn  is  to  plough  the  ground  deep,  then  mark  it 
one  way  with  my  single  shovel  plough,  about  five  inches  deep,  and  about 
four  feet  apart,  each  way ;  (any  thing  that  will  make  a  mark  will  do  for 
one  way ;)  the  corn  is  then  dropped  four  kernels  in  a  hill.  I  then  take 
my  two-shovel  plough,  and  set  the  shovels  apart,  so  as  to  drive  the  horse 
in  the  furrow,  and  turn  the  dirt  from  each  side  on  the  corn.  This  plan 
I  find  is  very  beneficial  in  wet  weather,  in  carrying  the  surplus  water 
ofi:'  the  liills.  Just  as  it  is  coming  up,  I  take  my  harrow,  and  knock 
the  centre  teeth  back  so  as  not  to  drag  up  the  corn ;  I  then  take  my 
team  and  drive  with  one  horse  on  each  side  of  the  row,  taking  one  row 
at  a  time,  and  harrow  it  all  over.  This  leaves  the  ground  in  fine  condi- 
tion. After  a  few  days,  I  take  my  two-shovel  plough,  and  go  through  it 
Jwice  in  a  row,  both  ways ;  and  if  I  have  time,  I  go  through  it  three 
times.  This  leaves  the  ground  in  fine  order,  and  the  corn,  I  think,  fills 
out  much  better.  I  have  grown  corn,  with  stalks  upwards  of  nine  feet 
in  length,  and  ears  thirteen  inches  in  length,  and  nine  and  a  half  inches 


30 

iu  circumference ;  but  these  were  extraordinary  specimens,  having  grown 
where  some  straw  had  been  burned  the  full  before.  My  corn  is  a  larger 
kind  than  most  of  that  grown  throughout  the  country,  and  yields  from 
fifty  to  seventy  or  eighty  bushels  per  acre.  The  time  for  planting  is 
from  the  first  to  the  middle  of  May,  or  even  earlier.  One  man  can  tend 
forty  acres,  provided  he  can  have  help  to  go  through  it  with  the  plough 
tlie  first  time. 

I  have  raised  fifty  bushels  of  oats  per  acre,  and  nearly  two  hundred 
bushels  of  potatoes ;  but  they  are  not  so  sure.  I  find  by  experience  that 
they  do  best  planted  about  the  middle  of  May,  that  they  may  be  well 
advanced  by  the  time  the  hot  weather  comes  on ;  or,  not  till  after  the 
middle  of  June,  that  they  may  have  the  benefit  of  the  September  rains. 
But  last  season  late  planted  potatoes  with  us  were  almost  an  entire  fail- 
ure.    I  find,  by  experience,  that  crops  of  all  kinds  do  best  put  in' early. 

For  grazing,  I  think  our  lands  may  be  ranked  among  the  best,  if  right- 
ly managed.  The  dry  land  stock  down  Avith  red  clover,  or  timothy  and 
clover,  and  the  wet  portions  with  red  top.  Clover  does  extremely  well, 
and  yields  an  abundant  supply  of  feed.  Timothy  does  better  after  the 
land  lias  been  cultivated  for  a  short  time.  A  slight  dressing  of  manure, 
to  change  the  nature  of  the  soil,  is  a  great  help  to  it.  Selling  crops  on 
the  ground  is  not  much  practiced,  but,  as  a  general  rule,  I  believe,  about 
twice  the  freight  from  the  station  to  Chicago,  may  be  considered  the 
difterence  in  the  price  of  produce  at  the  station.  Help  last  season  was 
scarce,  and  wages  very  high,  varying  from  $14  to  $18  per  month,  for 
seven  or  eight  months  together.  The  increase  in  value  per  acre  would 
depend  much  on  the  size  of  the  tract  cultivated.  A  small  farm  would 
be  worth  more  per  acre,  with  tbe  same  improvements,  than  a  very  large 
one.     For  example,  take  160  acres,  purchased  at  $10  per  acre  : 

First  cost  on  160  acres,  at  $10  per  acre, $1,600  00 

Breaking  100  acres,  at  §2  25         "        225  00 

160  rods  fence,  on  front  side  or  road,  $1  per  rod, 160  00 

Half  of  the  otber  three  sides 240  00 

Building  house,  &c., 500  00 

Fruit  Trees,  Ac, 25  00 

/  Amounting  to $2,750  00 

It  is  probably  now  worth  $25  per  acre,  which  will  be $4,000  00 

Leaving  a  profit  for  owner  of 1,250  00 

Or,  at  $20  per  acre,  still  leaves  a  balance  of 450  00 

It  is  probable  that  the  fence  may  be  built  for  a  little  less  than  one  dol- 
lar per  rod  ;  but  as  I  have  made  no  allowance  for  cross-fences,  yards,  &c., 
and  calculated  only  half  of  three  sides,  and  one  whole  side  for  the  road, 
I  think  the  excess  of  price  will  not  more  than  pay  the  expense  of  build- 
ing the  necessary  fences  inside.     I  have  also  left  sixty  acres  for  meadow 


31 

and  pasture.  If  the  purchaser  have  means  to  make  the  necessary  im- 
provements, or  most  of  them,  I  think  he  would  do  well  to  settle  on  such 
lands. 

From  my  own  experience,  I  think  the  statements  of  Mr.  Wight,  editor 
of  the  "Prairie  Farmer,"  all  as  near  correct  as  can  well  be  calculated. 
Spring  wheat  is  rated  a  little  below.  But  I  have  not  paid  extra  attention 
to  the  growing  of  oats,  and  not  much  to  wheat.  A  great  portion  of  the 
lands  through  which  the  Illinois  Central  Rail-Road  passes  I  have  not 
seen,  but  judging  from  what  I  have,  and  the  descriptions  of  those  who 
are  considered  good  judges,  I  should  pronounce  it  an  excellent  tract.  I 
will  now  state  my  reasons  for  selling  out  where  I  was.  Not  having  any 
help  of  my  own,  I  was  obliged  to  do  all  myself,  or  hire,  and  to  get  good 
hands  was  often  difficult  and  expensive.  I  therefore  concluded  to  sell, 
which  I  did,  for  $30  per  acre,  (200  acres,)  as  I  stated,  and  live  a  little 
easier.  I  have  in  another  place  there  yet  seventeen  and  a  half  acres, 
and  of  an  island  seven  and  a  half,  both  of  which  I  have  offers  for,  and 
think  I  shall  sell  them. 

Yours,  respectfully,  H*.  H.  HENDRICK. 


LETTER  OF  W.  R.  HARRIS. 

Palmyra,  Lee  Co.,  Ill,  Feb.  17,  1853. 
Mr.  Charles  Du  Put,  Jr. : 

Sir, — In  reply  to  your  inquiries  in  regard  to  Illinois  farming,  I  will 
state  that  I  commenced  here  in  the  spring  of  1847,  with  a  capital  of 
$700,  with  which  I  purchased  twenty  acres  of  timber  and  one  hundred  • 
and  sixty  acres  of  prairie  land.  The  first  season  T  broke  up  fifty-five 
acres  with  a  pair  of  horses  and  one  yoke  of  oxen,  breaking  two  acres 
per  day.  The  third  year  I  added  eighty  acres  to  my  farm,  and  hired 
fifty  acres  broke,  at  $2  per  acre.  The  fourth  year  I  hired  ten  acres 
more  broke,  at  $2  25  per  acre,  which  gave  me  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
acres  under  cultivation.  This  is  all  that  I  have  had  under  cultivation, 
and  I  have  sold  the  product  this  year  for  over  $2,000.  I  have  now 
been  engaged  here  about  eight  years,  and  my  capital  of  $700  has  in- 
creased to  between  $8,000  to  $10,000. 

We  generally  plant  corn  from  the  first  to  the  twenty-fifth  of  May. 
The  usual  crop  of  sod  corn  will  about  pay  for  breaking,  and  the  cost  of 
raising.  It  will  hardly  come  off  in  time  for  sowing  fall  wheat,  but  the 
ground  will  be  in  good  order  for  sowing  spring  wheat,  which  will  proba- 
bly yield  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  bushels  per  acre.     After  the  first 


32 

season,  the  average  crop  of  corn  is  sixty  bushels  (shelled)  per  acre. 
One  man,  with  a  pair  of  horses,  will  tend  forty  acres  of  corn,  and  do  it 
well.  Our  grain  sells  at  the  rail-road  stations  at  about  ten  cents  per 
sixty  lbs.  below  the  Chicago  prices.  The  prairies  are  first  rate  grass 
lands,  and  well  adapted  to  the  raising  of  all  kinds  of  stock.  Wages 
vary  from  $15  to  -$20  per  month. 

Yours,  (fee,  W.  R.  HARRIS. 


EXTRACT  OF  A  LETTER  FROM  H.  BRADLEY,  OF  ROCKTON,  ILL. 

"  I  plough  the  ground  very  deep,  then  mark  it  two  feet  each  way  ;  then 
proceed  to  plant  with  a  hand-planter,  two  rows  at  a  time.  Within  five 
or  six  days,  (just  before  the  corn  comes  out  of  the  ground,)  brush  the 
ground  over  with  a  light  drag  with  short  wooden  teeth,  thus  displacing 
the  weeds  on  the  surface,  and  leaving  it  as  smooth  as  an  onion  bed. 
Within  a  fortnight  after  the  corn  gets  up,  go  through  it  once  in  a  row 
each  way  with  a  corn  plough,  and  the  work  of  cultivation  is  done.  Now 
is  not  this  comparatively  a  cheap  way  of  rasing  corn  ?  I  shall  have  at 
least  sixty  bushels  per  acre  this  dry  season,  besides  having  double  the 
usual  amount  of  fodder.  *  *  *  One  man  will  plant  as  fast  with 
the  machine  as  four  will  Avith  hoes,  and  do  the  work  much  better  than 
can  be  done  with  the  hoe,  as  the  machine  is  so  nicely  adjusted  as  to  drop 
from  three  to  five  kernels,  pricking  them  all  within  the  space  of  an  inch 
and  a  half  square,  thus  giving  a  much  better  chance  to  run  the  plough 
close  to  the  hill,  than  if  the  hill  occupied  from  four  to  six  inches  square, 
as  it  does  planted  with  a  hoe." 


The  Illinois  State  Register  gives  an  account  of  a  crop  of  corn  grown  by  J.  N. 
Brown,  Esq.,  of  Sangamon  county.     His  address  is  Berlin  post-office. 

"  ^Ir.  Brown  broke  up  a  field  of  forty  acres,  which  had  been  in  grass 
eighteen  years,  and  planted  it  in  corn.  The  corn  might  have  been  put 
in  hills  a  little  thicker  than  usual,  and  the  after  culture  was  tolerably 
thorough.  Some  three  or  four  weeks  ago,  nine  acres  of  the  land  was 
measured  off,  being  the  poorest  part  of  the  field,  and  the  corn  gathered 
and  husked,  when  it  was  found  that  the  nine  acres  averaged  ninety-five 
bushels  an  acre,  which  Avas  satisfactory  evidence  (the  poorest  part  of  the 
field  having  been  measured)  that  the  whole  forty  acres  would  average 
full  one  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre. 

"  This  incident  is  mentioned  as  an  evidence  that  the  soil  of  Central 
Illinois  does  not  deteriorate.  Mr.  Brown  is  of  opinion,  that  l>y  a  proper 
rotation  of  crops,  our  soil  will  improve,  and  be  made  to  produce  richer 
yields  than  it  does  even  now.     *     *     *     * 

"  In  a  conversation  we  had  with  Mr.  Brown,  he  assured  us  that  the 
land  had  never  been  manured,  and  that  if  it  had  received  as  much 
attention  as  is  usual  in  the  older  States,  the  crop  would  have  been  much 
larger." 


-f 


r 


